


The Wayward Astronomer: Chapter 2

by Kafelnikov



Series: The Wayward Astronomer [2]
Category: DreamKeepers
Genre: DreamKeepers - Freeform, Gen, HAL - Freeform, Meteor, Miri - Freeform, Mountains, Starfall, The Wayward Astronomer, chapter 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kafelnikov/pseuds/Kafelnikov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the second chapter of my DreamKeepers universe story titled "The Wayward Astronomer"</p>
<p>Hal and Miri leave the observatory to search for the meteor, and what they find will change the course of their lives forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wayward Astronomer: Chapter 2

****

Hal and Miri left the observatory early in the morning and began the long hike towards the meteorite impact site. Even though his face didn't show it, Hal was clearly excited about the find, and his tail energetically bobbed and weaved as they walked, taking in the glittering splendor of the Starfall Mountains. As the sun rose, the rays of light reflected on millions of tiny particles in the snow, showering the landscape with flashes of blue, purple and white. Even in the bitter cold Hal felt warmed by the natural beauty of his surroundings. 

Miri was slightly less enthusiastic about their early morning trek. The indigo colored fox was not a morning person, and though she enjoyed scientific discovery and the occasional adventure, she was the sort of researcher that would prefer to work comfortably in a lab than go climbing sheer rock faces in the morning cold. Tesla, her pet ryuu-neko, sat wrapped around her neck like some sort of living yellow scarf. Like Miri, the creature was not yet ready for adventure and remained wrapped around her neck dozing in the sunlight and contentedly sharing body heat. 

"We have to be getting close now." Hal reported, staring out into the snow as a faint halo appeared over his head as he used his power to see other ranges of light. An elbow to the ribs quickly snapped him out of it. Looking over, he was greeted with the disapproving glare of his companion. 

"I hope so." Miri sighed. "You know I don't like being cold or forced to march when the sun is barely even up yet."

Hal chuckled, his tail resting its head on top of Miri's. "Well, well, please excuse the inconvenience, your majesty. I promise I won't make a habit of doing this every day." His tail-head flicked its forked tongue and blinked its quartet of blood red eyes. 

"You wiseass..." Miri chuckled a bit herself at Hal's sarcasm. After giving him a light jab in retaliation she wrapped her arm around his and pulled herself closer to his side. This caused a slight hitch in Hal's step as he matched stride with the shorter fox, but he thankfully avoided falling face first into the snow. "...I'm cold." Miri offered an explanation on her own, her ears twitching briefly. "Does this bother you?"

"No." Hal shook his head but said nothing more, content to continue the hike as things were. They walked in silence for several more minutes, the time punctuated only by the occasional howl of wind and the crunching of sparkling snow beneath their boots. 

"Hey Hal?" Miri eventually spoke up, breaking the quiet. 

"Yes Miri?"

"...do you think we each have a destiny?"

The profoundness of the question caught Hal off guard. "What? Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't know." Miri started, "I'm just thinking, do we have some sort of unique purpose for being here? For being alive?" She kicked at the snow, sending a sparking cloud of dust up into the wind. "Am I meant for something special or am I just another snowflake among millions of snowflakes, blowing around in the wind without direction or control?"

Hal frowned, wind ruffling the black feathers on top of his head. His tail flicked its tongue at Miri's face as it hovered alongside her. He wasn't sure if something was deeply troubling his friend, but the question had him thinking. "What do you think, Miri?"

"I think I do have a destiny. We all do. I have to believe that." She rested her head on his shoulder as they slowly marched on. "If I don't, then this world really is such a cold and terrible place. In the end... I just want to know that my life mattered somehow."

Hal was quiet for a long time. Eventually he stopped walking and turned to face Miri. When he spoke his voice was quiet, but there was a fire behind his orange reptilian eyes. "We each make our own destinies, Miri. In our final moments it will be the choices that we've made that decide whether we were worthy of our time in this world."

"Do you think our lives will be worth it?"

"I don't know Miri... but one day we will find out." Hal gave Miri a reassuring hug then clapped her on the shoulder. "But enough with the heavy questions already, we've got work to do. The impact site should be down the next drop." 

At the cliff's edge they could see the crater. The meteorite had landed next to a river and at the center of the small crater lay an unassuming black hunk of rock that was presumably their falling star. Hal reached for his climbing gear and began to set up for rappelling down the steep cliff. 

"Sorry Hal. I guess I always have a lot on my mind. It gets lonely up here in the mountains and you're one of the few people I feel I can talk to." She made an apologetic face as she likewise readied her climbing gear. 

"Don't worry about it. I think about those things sometimes too. Besides, we're friends. You know you can talk to me about anything that's on your mind."

"Yeah." 

Once the ropes and harnesses were secure, Hal started down the mountainside using short experienced hops to lower himself bit by bit along the cold and wet stone. Miri followed soon after, and Tesla who was used to their excursions simply buried himself in Miri's pack to ride out the descent. 

When he reached the bottom Hal immediately started towards the meteorite, activating his power to see the wayward falling star with different eyes. He could hear Miri's verbal objection from behind him, but he could hardly hear her when a blinding light from the meteor overwhelmed him. Hal dropped to one knee and blinked his eyes, trying to shake away the spots he was now seeing. 

"Hal! Are you alright? What happened" Miri's footsteps rushed up behind him and he could feel her hand on one shoulder. 

"I... I don't know." Hal stood and shook his head. "That falling star... it's emitting so much radiation in other spectrums... it was like staring into the Sun!"

Miri looked over at the offending ball of rock, half buried in the snow. "It just looks like an ordinary rock to me..."

"You don't see the world as I see it, Miri. There is more to this falling star than it would appear." Hal slowly started towards the meteor, a very faint halo over his head as he squinted and tried to barely glimpse at other ranges of light. 

The illumination was dazzling, awe-inspiring, and with each step he took closer to the meteor he could almost feel the light piercing his mind. A weight began to form in the pit of his stomach growing more heavy with every moment. Miri watched warily from a distance, arms crossed across her chest, her face drawn into a worrisome frown. 

He was so close now... standing only a foot away from the wayward star. His eyes burned with searing hot pain. The weight grew heavier and heavier in his chest, forcing him to one knee. He slowly reached out one taloned hand towards the fallen thing. The closer he came the louder the silence grew in his ears; suffocating, deafening, and momentous. One scaled finger reached out to touch the blinding burning light...

Cold. A tremendous, soul shivering chill. This burning star was colder than any than any ice Hal had ever felt in his life and it cut through him in an instant, chilling him to the core. 

The silence was unbearably loud, his body so heavy, the light so blinding. He wanted to look away, to move, but he couldn't. An eternity passed in that brief second, as Hal was held captive by the piece of heaven. 

"HAL!!!!!!" Miri's voice was screaming in his ears and Hal felt himself pulled backwards. Suddenly his senses returned in an instant, and he was on his back in the snow, looking up at the morning sky and the very angry and distressed face of his research partner. The halo disappeared from over his head. 

"Hal! Were you even listening to me!? I've been screaming at you this whole time and you just kept walking towards that meteorite!" Miri pinned him to the ground, practically sobbing, her fur all on end. "What the hell is wrong with you!? What happened!?"

Hal blinked. His tail moved groggily as if awakening from some deep sleep. He looked over at the meteorite: It was a dull black hunk of rock sitting half covered in snow. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. That stone. That... Star. It was blinding. Captivating. I didn't know what I was doing."     

"I don't like this, Hal! I think we should leave this damn thing and just pretend we never even saw it! It was almost like it was controlling you!" Miri got off of him and helped Hal up out of the snow. 

Hal dusted himself off and looked again at the Star. In normal light it looked just like a dense lump of ore. It was dull, quiet, and lifeless. "There is definitely something wrong with that thing... but we can't just leave it for someone else to find. We need to study it."

"What? No! Are you crazy? I've got a really really bad feeling about that thing! It's not worth it!" Miri looked terrified of the unassuming lump, and Tesla was likewise very agitated. 

"Look, I'll just take a small sample for study and leave the rest. We might be able to learn something valuable from this thing. We could be looking at an entirely new form of energy source! It could change the world!"

"Yeah, change it for the better, or for worse?" Miri countered, crossing her arms. "Remember what you said about making the right choices Hal? Well this one is going to bite us in the ass, I just know it."

"Maybe... but I can't just ignore an opportunity like this. We can't ever learn and grow and evolve by sticking our heads in the sand, Miri. You of all people should know that." Hal hissed in response and turned away, walking back to the Star. He used his hammer to chip away a palm sized sliver and placed it in one of his front pockets for safe keeping. Even the small piece of the star was very heavy, and Hal doubted the two of them could carry the entire meteorite, even if they wanted to. 

"I hope you know what you're doing, Hal." Miri frowned, but didn't try to physically stop him from taking the small artifact. 

"I don't... but we'll learn more about this mystery star soon enough." Hal stood. "Come on, let's get out of here."

_"You're not going anywhere!"_ A new gruff voice emerged from behind him and Hal heard Miri gasp in surprise. "Hands up! Turn around! Slowly!" 

Hal felt the cold weight of fear settle over his body, and as he turned he found himself staring down the barrel of a springer rifle...

****


End file.
